Justice George Kanyeihamba: A Pillar of Judicial Courage in Uganda

By Obita Calvin Stewart

The gavel is quiet today. Uganda has lost not just a jurist, but a constitutional conscience. Justice George Wilson Kanyeihamba, who passed away on 14 July 2025 at the age of 85, was more than a lawyer or a scholar. he was a force. His death marks the end of an era in which law stood up, even when those who wielded power wished it would sit down.

From his earliest roles as Attorney-General and later Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Kanyeihamba was present at the birth of Uganda’s democratic promise. It was under his stewardship that the 1995 Constitution took shape, crafted not merely as a document of governance, but as a shield against tyranny. As Chair of the Legal and Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly, he believed the Constitution should be more than text; it should be a living covenant between the governors and the governed.

But his legacy was never confined to theory. On the Supreme Court bench from 1997 to 2009, he demonstrated not only legal brilliance but judicial bravery. None more so than in the landmark 2006 presidential election petition: while the majority upheld the re-election of President Museveni, Kanyeihamba was among the few who dissented. His opinion, delivered with unflinching clarity, declared the election fatally flawed by state-sponsored malpractice. He voted to annul the results, a decision that cost him dearly, including Uganda’s slot on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. But he bore that cost without regret. For Kanyeihamba, principle always came before promotion.

His sense of justice did not waver in retirement. He always warned judges that if they do not stand up to President Museveni and the Executive, they will continue to take a lot of beating from the government. He was one of the few to speak up while others chose silence. Years later, in 2021, long after his final sitting, he returned to court not as a judge, but as a petitioner, challenging proposed amendments that would restrict the constitutional right to bail. His belief in the rule of law was not performative. It was lived.

And yet, this was a man of many rooms. With a PhD from the University of Warwick, and an honorary Doctor of Laws, he was a legal scholar whose work was studied across Africa. He lectured, wrote, chaired academic boards, and mentored a generation of jurists and thinkers. Internationally, he served with the African Court and advised the International Commission of Jurists, reminding the world that Uganda could export not only athletes and coffee, but legal thought.

In his final years, Kanyeihamba became a kind of judicial elder, a voice of warning, often inconvenient, always necessary. When he spoke, he did so not with bitterness, but with the quiet authority of someone who had paid the price of truth. And in his voice, there was always a call to vigilance.

He once quoted Chinua Achebe to his students: “A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.” But Kanyeihamba’s troublemaking was of the highest kind. He disturbed the comfort of arbitrary power. He questioned its silence. He agitated for justice not for himself, but for the country.

Now he rests.

But we, who remain, are left with a challenge. To honour him, not merely with words, but with courage. Let the next advocate who raises their hand against excess overreach by the executive find strength in Kanyeihamba’s legacy. Let the next judge who writes a lonely dissent know that they walk in noble footsteps.

May his memory live not only in the law reports, but in every act of principle that dares to speak when others are silent.

If for all he did for us does not matter to anyone, then at least let’s use him as a mirror to hold up and hold ourselves accountable.

The law has lost a giant. Uganda must not lose his example.